


Catnip Tea

by tmycelah



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Gender-Neutral Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), I just wanted to write about the Exarch acting like a cat, With big eyes, and Exarch being badass, and then soft, bouncing off the walls, i hope you like fluff, pspspspspspsps, with the zoomies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22207702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmycelah/pseuds/tmycelah
Summary: The Crystal Exarch is gifted a new tea and begins to act a bit unusual, much to the Warrior of Light's exasperation.
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light
Comments: 1
Kudos: 70





	Catnip Tea

G’raha Tia’s ears swiveled as he heard the click of the door to the study opening. Looking up, he smiled as his beloved appeared, holding a tray of tea and food.

“You’re too good to me,” he said as he stretched and took the tray from them. 

“Only as good as you are to me,” the Warrior replied, lightly kissing his head as they took the opposite chair. “How is the research going?” they asked as they poured G’raha a cup of tea and nudged the tray of food closer. 

G’raha let out a small groan of frustration. “I haven’t uncovered anything new regarding soul magic that isn’t known to our allies here. I was hoping something would turn up in these records of the Empire but all I’m finding are the earliest versions of the summoning formulas, which my younger self would have dearly loved, but all I can be now is disappointed.” He chuckled to himself as he brought the teacup to his lips. “Mmm, this smells amazing. Did you pick up a new blend?”

“Urianger recommended a new tea he developed. It’s very soothing and since I knew your chamomile was running low, I thought we could see how you liked this one.” 

“It tastes wonderful,” G’raha said as he took a sip. “Did you add anything to it?” The Warrior smiled, taking a sip of their own tea. 

“I couldn’t resist putting in a bit of honey, since it seemed a bit bland when I tried it. Also, you need to eat,” they said, pushing the simple plate of bread and cheese at G’raha, who gave them a fond smile as he took a bite of food and finished his cup of tea. 

“Thank you. What is your day looking like?” 

“Well,” the Warrior said as they brandished a book of battle tactics, “I figured I would join you in studying.”

“I would like that,” G’raha said with a soft smile as he resumed reading his own tome. 

As comfortable silence descended on the study, the Warrior found themselves engrossed in their book. They rarely could afford to shut the world out around them, what with being ‘the Warrior of Light and Darkness’ and everything those titles carried. But with G'raha, they could simply be themselves, which was something they would always cherish. 

So engrossed was the Warrior that it took some time to realize that G’raha had been moving around the room rather restlessly for some time. When they finally looked up from their book, the study was organized chaos. Books were strewn everywhere around the room, all opened to random pages. G’raha had pulled out a slate from somewhere and had scribbled indecipherable formulas all over. As he stood there muttering under his breath, the Warrior cautiously asked, “Raha? Is something the matter?”

G’raha gave a small jump and turned around. “Oh, what? No, nothing is the matter, I was just struck with a sudden burst of inspiration and couldn’t help but pursue it.” 

As G’raha was speaking, the Warrior noticed that his pupils were incredibly dilated. 

“Are you sure? You seem a bit…off.”

“Off?” G’raha replied. “How so?” As he said this, he glanced at the Warrior and then suddenly stopped, arrested by the sight…of his hand? The Warrior was not sure what to make of the sight of G’raha waving his crystal arm in front of his face with a goofy smile. Before the Warrior could respond to his question, G’raha continued speaking as he twisted his hand to and fro. “Have you noticed? The light refracting off my hand is quite interesting.” His pupils suddenly got impossibly large as he focused on the small rainbow of light his arm reflected on the wall. His head swiveled in the same direction as his arm and he seemed engrossed in following the trail of light around the study. 

“Raha, are you sure you’re feeling alright?” the Warrior asked as the normally dignified Exarch all but scampered around the room following his own arm. 

“I believe so…for some reason I am starting to see colors a bit more strongly than before. I wonder what could be the cause of-ooh!” the Crystal Exarch suddenly swiveled his head and focused on something the Warrior couldn’t see. “There, there do you see that? Some fly or something has gotten into the Tower. I _must_ take care of it.”

With that, G’raha tore out of the study and down the hall. The Warrior could hear the sounds of the Exarch running down the hall and the occasional thud in his failed attempts to squash the fly. Cautiously, they poked their head out of the study and were greeted with the sight of the Exarch scrabbling down the hall, waving his hands in a frenzied manner and growling. 

Before the Warrior could utter a warning, the Exarch had reached the end of the hall-but instead of smacking into the wall as they had feared, he jumped and used the wall as a launch pad to leap after his quarry. 

“You’re mine!” the Exarch growled, in a voice the Warrior had never heard outside the occasional dungeon (or their bedroom), as he finally pounced on the fly. He looked triumphantly up at his beloved and _pranced_ to them, hands still clasped around the dead insect. “I caught it!” G’raha said, panting from his exertions, with his eyes and smile wide.

The Warrior, a bit taken aback by G’raha’s behavior, wasn’t sure how to respond. “Uh, thank you for catching that Raha, I really appreciate it.” Pausing, they noticed G’raha was still panting rather heavily and his eyes were still dilated. “Did you want to get some water or something?”

G’raha’s ears twitched in interest. “Oh yes, water would be most agreeable right now.” Wiping his hands on his robes, and giving the Warrior a mischievous smile, he rose on his toes to give the Warrior a quick kiss on the cheek. Laughing, he dashed down the hall, yelling “Tag! You’re it~!”

The Warrior could only blink after him for a few seconds before collecting themselves and giving chase, yelling, “Raha! Wait for me!” Muttering under their breath about 'That adorable foolish miqo’te'” they desperately hoped that G'raha hadn’t turned down one of the more confusing hallways. They had only mapped out a small portion of the Tower (the Ocular, the bedroom, the kitchen, and the study-in that order) and wouldn’t know what to do if they lost G'raha while he was acting like he’d gotten caught in a pixie's trick.

 _‘A pixie…’_ the Warrior skidded to a halt as a thought struck them. When this was all over, they were going to interrogate Urianger about that tea. For now, they had the world’s most powerful mage to find and make sure he hadn’t fallen down some Allagan elevator shaft in his excited state. 

“For a Warrior blessed by Hydaelyn, you really are quite slow, aren’t you?” the Exarch called from...well it turned out to not be an Allagan elevator shaft, but some type of transportation mechanism. “Now come my friend! We have our own adventure awaiting us!” 

“Raha, I said wait!” the Warrior cried out as they followed G’raha through the transport and suddenly found themselves face to face with some Allagan cloned monstrosity. Cursing, they prepared to strike-and then stopped short as they heard a cry and the monster dissolved into a pile of ash. As they stared at the dissolving monster, G’raha’s form came into focus, his staff brandished in front of him. _Sometimes I forget how powerful he is_ , they thought as G’raha let out an exultant laugh and launched himself at the next monster. 

“Oh gods...Raha, I said _come here_ ,” they cried out in frustration and cast Rescue, grabbing G’raha mid-stride and pulling him close to them. The startled miqo’te could only stare wide eyed up at the Warrior, who just sighed. “I caught you. Now please, let’s go back. I’m glad you want to have adventures but let’s do so after you’ve had a chance to rest.”

“Oh...okay,” G’raha said, ears starting to droop-and then he perked up immediately and suddenly began talking in a very animated manner. “Actually, you know what sounds _amazing_? Salted fish! I should have some upstairs!” And then quicker than thought, G’raha had teleported them to the kitchen. As the Warrior tried to orient themselves after such a disorienting change, they saw the Exarch rummaging around in the pantry and then couldn’t help but let out a bark of laughter at the sight of G’raha, arms full of bread and fruit-with a salted fish dangling out of this mouth. 

G’raha placed the food on the table in the middle of the kitchen and started to nibble on the fish, gesturing for them to start eating. “Let me get you some water first,” the Warrior said, pouring two glasses of water. They sat back, peeling an orange and studying the Exarch, who was engrossed with his meal. 

“What?” G’raha said, looking up as he noticed their gaze on him.

“How are you feeling? Here, eat this,” they said handing G’raha the orange.

“Ooh, thank you!” G’raha said in delight, fish forgotten for the moment as he munched on the orange. 

His pupils seemed slightly less dilated and he seemed to be a bit calmer than he was earlier. At the very least, the food had his attention. After some time, and with the Exarch consuming more food than they had ever seen him eat before, G’raha let out a small yawn. “Mmm…I seem to be a bit tired after all that.” 

“Let’s get you all settled then,” the Warrior said, taking his hand and leading him to the bedroom.

As G’raha sunk down into the cushions and blankets he let out a small sigh and started to rub his face along the pillow, a contented purr rumbling from his chest. “I don’t know why but this feels _so_ wonderful and soft.” As the Warrior placed another glass of water by the nightstand-just in case-G’raha caught their eye and held out his hand. “Join me? It’s not fun to sleep alone.”

“Of course,” they replied, smiling and taking his hand.

As they settled down into the space next to G’raha, he nuzzled his face into the crook of their neck. 

“Thank you for taking care of me,” he said softly.

“Anytime,” they replied, stroking his head softly. “Now get some rest.” As the Warrior felt themselves drifting off to sleep, they heard their name softly uttered.

“Hm? Yes?” 

“That tea was really quite good. Can you ask Urianger for more?”

**Author's Note:**

> Catnip tea is supposed to be relaxing and then my brain thought 'but what if it just made cat people high?' This has been in my drafts for a while and so I finally decided to post it; hope it made some of you smile. This is my first time writing with gender neutral pronouns and I hope it worked out okay.


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